He is most free from danger who, even And then to make 'em masters-by our when safe, is upon his guard. Havard. secrets. How dumb thy voice unlook'd for, strikes PRESENCE OF. the bold. J. Hill. Who has a breast so pure I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience But some uncleanly apprehensions still. Shakespeare. Keep leets and law-days, and in sessions sit With meditations lawful? Shakespeare. The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul. Ibid. PUNISHMENT OF. He who puts on guilt must cast off shame. heart like a serpent, to gnaw and stifle it. FIRST STEPS IN. J. Hill. THE FORCE of. Hazlitt. It is almost as difficult to make a man unlearn his errors as his knowledge. Colton. PERSISTENCE OF. A new cask will long preserve the tincture of the liquor with which it was first impregnated. Horacc. Dryden. A PLAGUE. In the great majority of things, habit is a O, what a state is guilt! how wild! how greater plague than ever afflicted Egypt; in wretched! religious character it is a grand felicity. John Foster. When apprehension can form naught but fears, And we distrust security herself. Havard. What a state is guilt When ev'ry thing alarms it! like a sentinel Who sleeps upon his watch, it wakes in dread, E'en at a breath of wind. Ibid. POWER. Habit will reconcile us to everything but change, and even to change if it recur not too quickly. Colton. RELIANCE UPON. I trust everything, under God, to habit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the school-master, has mainly placed his reliance: habit which makes everything easy, and casts all difficulties upon the deviation from a wonted course. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful; make prudence a habit, and reckless profligacy will be as contrary to the nature of a child, grown or adult, as the most atrocious crimes are to any of us. Lord Brougham. True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise. It arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and, in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select friends. That something still Addison For which we bear to live or dare to die. Pope Like flakes of snow, that fall unperceived upon the earth, the seemingly unimportant events of life succeed one another. As the snow gathers together, so are our habits formed. No single flake that is added to the pile produces a sensible change; no sin-No happiness can be where there is no rest; gle action creates, however it may exhibit a Th' unknown, untalk'd of man is only man's character; but as the tempest hurls the avalanche down the mountain, and overwhelms the inhabitant and his habitation, so passion, acting upon the elements of mis chief which pernicious habits have brought together by imperceptible accumulation may overthrow the edifice of truth and Bentham. virtue. IMPORTANCE OF. blest. CHEAPNESS Of. Dryden. How cheap Is genuine happiness, and yet how dearly From the same stores, does but elaborate J. N. Barker. CHEERFULNESS NECESSARY TO. If we look back upon the usual course of A pungent dish of well-concocted poison. our feelings, we shall find that we are more influenced by the frequent recurrence of objects than by their weight and importTo be happy, the passion must be cheerance; and that habit has more force in forming our characters than our opinions have. ful and gay, not gloomy and melancholy. The mind naturally takes its tone and com- A propensity to hope and joy is real riches: plexion from what it habitually contem-one to fear and sorrow, real poverty. plates. RESULT OF. Robert Hall. COMMON. Hume. Bliss is the same in subject or in king, Pope. Vicious habits are so great a stain to human nature, and so odious in themselves, One common blessing, as one common soul. that every person actuated by right reason would avoid them, though he were sure they would be always concealed both from God and man, and had no future punishment entailed upon them. Cicero. True happiness is to no spot confined, Alas! if the principles of contentment are not within us-the height of station and worldly grandeur will as soon add a cubit to a man's stature as to his happiness. Sterne. You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man; a contented mind confers it on all. Horace. CONTENTMENT, FROM. I earn what I eat, get what I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness, glad of other men's good, content with my harm. Shakespeare. What thing so good, which not some harm may bring? DANGER OF. E'en to be happy is a dangerous thing. Earl of Stirling. DEFINITIONS OF. Virtue alone is happiness below. DEPENDENCY OF. Every moment we feel our dependence upon God, and find that we can neither be happy without him, nor think ourselves so. Ibid. tution of the habits; and it is the business Happiness depends on the prudent constiof religion, not so much to extinguish our desires, as to regulate and direct them to valuable well chosen objects. Paley. Our happiness in this world depends on the affections we are enabled to inspire. Duchesse de Praslin. The happiness of life consists, like the day, not in single flashes (of light,) but in one continuous mild serenity. The most beautiful period of the heart's existence is in this calm equable light, even although it be only moonshine or twilight. Now the mind alone can only obtain for us this heavenly cheerfulness and peace. Richter. EQUALLY Divided. Happiness is much more equally divided than some of us imagine. One man shall possess most of the materials, but little of the thing; another may possess much of the thing, but very few of the materials. OF DOING. Colton. True happiness (if understood) Domestic happiness, thou only bliss DURABILITY. Pope. What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy, Nature has granted to all to be happy, if The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt we did but know how to use her benefits. It's no' in books, it's no' in lear, To make us truly blest; If happiness has not her seat joy. Pope. And centre in the breast, We may be wise, or rich, or great, But never can be blest. Burns. Forget past misfortunes if you would be happy. To be happy is not only to be freed from the pains or diseases of the body, but from anxiety and vexation of spirit; not only to enjoy the pleasures of sense, but peace of conscience and tranquility of mind. Tillotson. A CELESTIAL EXOTIC. True happiness is not the growth of earth, The soil is fruitless if you seek it there; "Tis an exotic of celestial birth, And never blooms but in celestial air. Sweet plant of paradise! its seeds are sown In here and there a breast of heavenly mould, It rises slow, and buds, but ne'er was known To blossom here-the climate is too cold. Sheridan |